The overall objective of our project is to understand how self-replicating molecules evolved on the primitive earth. A secondary objective is to develop alternative systems of self-replicating polymers based on nucleotide analogues such as the 2'-amino-2'-deoxynucleotides. We plan to synthesize activated oligonucleotide analogues and use them in template-directed reactions. We also plan to use a variety of adenosine analogues in template-directed reaction in order to test our hypothesis that a cis-glycol function is essential for efficient template condensations. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Orgel, L.E. Prebiotic polynucleotides and polypeptides. Israel J. Chem., 14, 11-16 (1975). Lohrmann, R., and L.E. Orgel. Template-directed synthesis of high molecular-weight polynucleotide analogues. Nature, 261, 342-344 (1976).